5 Tips For Getting More Views For Your YouTube Videos

August 30, 2017

With so many content creators uploading 400 hours of content every minute on YouTube, it's hard to rack up a substantial number of views, most especially when you are just starting out on the platform. The competition is intense as you will be competing with people who shell out hundreds of dollars (perhaps even thousands) into advertising campaigns to hit a million views. You would also be competing with creators who already have tons of subscribers and followers.

Don't get discouraged though, because there are tricks of the trade that can get you more clicks and views on your channel and we're here to share them.

Here are 5 of the most effective ways we've found to grow your exposure and get more views on YouTube:

1. Track Mentions And Listen To Your Audience

People visit YouTube because they want to be entertained and educated. It has become the go-to platform for most people as they essentially go there to find solutions to their problems. So, if you want people flocking to your YouTube channel, you should be able to create epic content that they will surely love and value. To do that, you must listen and understand the needs of your audience first.

A social media monitoring tool can help you see what your audience is looking for. For example, Social Report's Search Agent feature tracks brand mentions and discovers the most talked about trends on YouTube. With this tool, you can easily set up keywords and keep an eye on conversations surrounding a topic without having to do these tasks manually.

However, if you don't have a follower base yet where you can extract information from, there are a few helpful websites that can help. Take Quora, for example, a question and answer website. Lets say you're in the business of helping entrepreneurs out - you could scour the "businss" topic on Quora to see what's being asked, or simply type in "entrepreneurs", where you would find this question, with thousands of "upvotes" and hundreds of comments, which you could then easily turn into a YouTube video!

2. Plan The Structure Of Your Videos

It's one thing to decide on a niche or a topic for your YouTube videos. It's another story to deliver it right. So, how can you make your content as compelling as possible and how can you encourage more viewers to explore your channel further? It often comes down to a few basic principles:

Make sure your visuals are on point

Embrace cinematic techniques

Get your message across clearly

Leave your audience wanting more

Content tends to perform better when there's structure. The arrangements help organize the thoughts that will be relayed into the videos produced. It will also help creators like you stay on track and not veer off topic. Having a script in place ensures the content is delivered seamlessly resulting in a well-focused video.

The overall layout of your YouTube videos is important, too. The first 5 seconds of your video must be compelling enough for the viewers to keep watching otherwise they will not hesitate to scroll pass it at all. You need to have a great hook at the very beginning to get them invested in your video. A hook is a valuable premise or proposition that will draw in more viewers.

3. Take Advantage Of Channel Customizations

If you want people to trust you and your brand, make the most out of customization options that YouTube offers. Social media channels that look more professional tend to be respected and get more subscribers and viewers.

First, work on your YouTube banner. It's one of the elements that every YouTube channel needs to have to be successful. Easily create banners by using web application tools like Fotor.com. It will help bring your YouTube channel to life. They have ready-made templates and cover designs that you can use for free.

When you create custom thumbnails for each of your videos, you will see an increase in CTR (click-through rate). The thumbnails really do help in driving more traffic and clicks as they tell users what your video is all about. Create eye-catching thumbnails that boost viewership with Canva that make it impossible for your audience to scroll past your video without having a click and a look!

To give you a summary, an End Screen refers to the last 5-20 seconds of your video. It's the part where you can build viewership and direct viewers to your other videos, playlists, and channels. You can also call for subscriptions or even promote your merchandise or ongoing campaigns. Here's what an end screen looks like:

Cards, on the other hand, points viewers to a specific URL and show customized images and CTA (call to action) depending on the type. You can use this feature to add interactivity to your videos. Content creators don't often make use of this tool as it can get pretty distracting for their viewers, but it's actually the opposite. You can catch their attention this way and showcase some of your best evergreen content that drives the most traffic to your channel.

5. Do Cross-Platform Promotion

Digital marketers make sure they are visible on popular social media networks. They do it to increase their exposure and draw in more visitors to their website. They want to make their content known and effectively reach their audience. Hence, the importance of cross-platform promotion.

Digital marketing consultant Leigh Silver stated that "Publishers need to realize that it is a multi-platform world, and if you’re not competing on all platforms, you’re going to fail. I really do believe that. You have to be able to survive on all platforms."

There are several cross-network social media scheduling tools that you can use to effortlessly plan, organize, manage, and publish your YouTube videos to various social media platforms easily. Just like Social Report, these tools allow you to automatically promote your videos across all social channels for more exposure and audience engagement.

Posting content on YouTube can be a very powerful asset to every brand who wants to take their social media presence to the next level. Make sure to plan well and incorporate it into your social media strategy so that each video uploaded is maximized to its full potential.